Northrop F-18L

Last revised April 17, 2000

A land-based
version of the Hornet known as the F-18L was also planned. Since it did not have to
carry any equipment for carrier-based operations, the F-18L was
expected to be significantly lighter and better-performing than the
carrier-based version. Although no orders had actually been received,
it was anticipated that the F-18L would be an attractive proposition for
those foreign air forces who wanted and could afford an aircraft with
greater capabilities than those of the F-5.

As part of the original partnership arrangement between McDonnell
Douglas and Northrop, it had been agreed that McDonnell Douglas would
be the prime contractor for the carrier-based F-18A version of the
Hornet, with Northrop being the prime contractor for the F-18L
land-based version. The partnership between these two aerospace
giants did not always go smoothly, and strains between the two
corporations began to show almost immediately. In particular, a major
disagreement arose over sales of the F-18L. It seemed that whenever
foreign purchasers showed an interest in acquiring the land-based
version of the F-18, McDonnell would immediately mount an active sales
effort, putting the carrier-based McDonnell F-18 in direct competition
with the land-based Northrop F-18L. Northrop management became very
unhappy about what it perceived to be McDD's violation of the terms of
their agreement, and in October 1979, a series of lawsuits was
launched, with Northrop claiming that McDonnell was unfairly using
Northrop technology developed for the F-18L to sell its own F-18A
abroad. Northrop also charged that McDonnell was trying to sell
Israel a version of the F-18 that competed directly with the Northrop
F-18L. Northrop asked the courts to restrain McDonnell from trying to
sell to any foreign government any version of the F-18 which took
advantage of Northrop technology to the detriment of the latter
company. The case dragged on in the courts for years, and was not
settled until April of 1985. At that time, it was agreed that
McDonnell Douglas would be prime contractor for all existing and
future versions of the Hornet, and Northrop terminated all work on its
F-18L land-based version.